doing it yourself

in any process of development, improvement or learning, you must at some point feel able to cope without your teacher, guide or instructor. obviously you don’t turn your back on that source of expertise and knowledge, but if you remain completely dependent on that then you haven’t truly grown.

so it is that i have got to a point where i am either confident in making some choices, or i’ve got cocky and am about to come up with something ridiculous…

i think (hope?) it’s the former, as i am about to describe what i think is a half-decent training schedule that will work for me. the background to this is that i really need to limit the weekday gym sessions to about an hour (for purely practical reasons) while also working in the longer stamina-building sessions (and running practice).

the building blocks are already there

while some of the confidence comes from having developed an awareness of my body and its needs, a lot actually comes from having a good store of routines to choose from. with the programmes and sessions that britt has set for me in the past 6 months, it’s effectively created a series of tried and tested routines that should work in various “mix and match” configurations.

the overall framework

having looked back over the sessions done in the past few months (only possible because of maintaining a journal!), i’ve set out a rough framework for a complete week:

monday

“5km row day” or 1000m, 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m row day

i really do enjoy the rowing these days, and find myself looking forward to starting the week with a middle distance row. both these sessions provide the rowing component, and also include some upper body work to round things out.

tuesday

weights day from programme 2

while there has been some weights work in the latest schedule, there has certainly been less than the previous schedule. it’ll be good to build in a couple of sessions per week specifically for weights.

wednesday

“pick a long row day” has got to stay – though probably limited to 1 hour or a half marathon row and some abs and/or pushups thrown in for good measure

thursday

this will remain “backyard session” day, but primarily focused on doing some running; expect to see a few pushups etc. and then a bit of a jog.

friday

weights day – see tuesday for more details…

saturday

will remain the official “rest” day

sunday

with the “getting up early” well and truly established, and the rest of the world having a slightly slower start to the day, sunday mornings are perfect for an extended gym session.

this will be mixed up to provide variety, but essentially it will be used to do some of the lengthier sessions such as the triathlon challenge (10km jog, 10km cycle, 10km row or cross-trainer), a very long row (even a very long run, eventually) or a session with multiple jog/walk segments with rowing and/or cycling interspersed.

now let’s see if this works

overall i think this gives a good balance and variety in exercise modes, while also meeting the criteria of having more manageable weekday sessions.

with the weather improving, the plan is that on weekdays there will be some walking during the day to supplement the gym work.

i think it will work; even if it doesn’t, it will give good feedback for a second attempt to design a good workout regime!

and of course, britt will still be in the background, throwing in sneaky little suggestions and making sure i stay roughly on track…